NEWTOWN / GUN CONTROL: The Hill's Justin Sink: " Obama: 'Shame on us if we've forgotten' victims of Newtown" President Obama made an emotional plea for Congress to pass gun-control legislation, telling the political world "shame on us" if it has forgotten the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School less than 100 days ago. "Shame on us if we've forgotten," Obama said Thursday at a White House event where he was flanked by more than a dozen mothers whose children were the victims of gun violence. LINK

The Washington Times' Susan Crabtree: " Obama steps up pressure to pass gun measures" With polls showing waning support for new gun control measures, President Obama delivered an emotional and forceful plea aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Congress to pass a broad bill more than 100 days after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Flanked by police officials and mothers affected by gun violence, Mr. Obama said "none of these ideas should be controversial" and they should be ashamed if people have already lost interest in December's Sandy Hook massacre. LINK

USA Today's Aamer Madhani: " Obama: 'Remember how we felt after Sandy Hook'" Standing among a group of mothers who have lost children to gun violence, President Obama on Thursday attempted to increase pressure on Congress to pass a package of gun-control bills. LINK

GAY MARRIAGE: ABC News' Shushanna Walshe: "Republican Senator 'Evolving' on Gay Marriage Issue" Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is "evolving" on the issue of gay marriage, but she has stopped short of joining the other senator from Alaska, Mark Begich, D-Alaska, in endorsing it. LINK

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The New York Times' Declan Walsh and Zia Ur-Reham: " Taliban Terrorize Karachi as the New Gang in Town" This seaside metropolis is no stranger to gangland violence, driven for years by a motley collection of armed groups who battle over money, turf and votes. But there is a new gang in town. Hundreds of miles from their homeland in the mountainous northwest, Pakistani Taliban fighters have started to flex their muscles more forcefully in parts of this vast city, and they are openly taking ground. LINK

Politico's Tony Romm: " U.S., China cyber battle intensifies" The United States and China appear locked in a cybersecurity war - of mostly words - that's beginning to escalate.Both the White House and Capitol Hill now explicitly criticize Beijing for failing to subdue the hackers and spies thought to reside within the country's borders. LINK

Bloomberg's Flavia Krause-Jackson & Peter S. Green: " UN Arms Trade Pact Stalls as Iran, N. Korea, Syria Object" An international treaty regulating the $70 billion global arms trade was sidetracked after failing to get the unanimous support needed for adoption among more than 150 countries taking part in negotiations at the United Nations. Iran, North Korea and Syria yesterday barred passage of proposed standards to block illegal exports of conventional weapons - from small arms and missile launchers to tanks, warships and attack helicopters. LINK

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT: The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin: " Obama administration moves ahead with sweeping rules requiring cleaner gasoline" The Environmental Protection Agency will move ahead Friday with a rule requiring cleaner gasoline and lower-pollution vehicles nationwide, amounting to one of President Obama's most significant air pollution initiatives, according to people briefed on the decision. The proposed standards would add less than a penny a gallon to the cost of gasoline while delivering an environmental benefit akin to taking 33 million cars off the road, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made yet. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO: " Los Angeles Archbishop: Illegal immigrants should be given access to the American dream" LINK